Every four years the world turns its attention to the summer Olympic Games as the world’s greatest athletes assemble in one place to seek the coveted price of a gold medal. London 2012 may be the farthest thing away from your mind right now as you begin to plan your 2012 missionary airfares, but it shouldn’t be. That’s because its location—London—could impact you regardless of your actual mission trip destination.
Many flights for missionaries go through Europe to get to destinations in Africa and Asia. That means that you can expect a lot of company in European airports if you’re traveling just before, during or right after the July 27-August 12, 2012 event. Even if you do not plan to fly on an airline that transfers in London, you should still expect major crowding in all of the key European hub airports during that time. London, of course, will be the epicenter.
For those who do transfer through London and want to explore the city during any layovers, they can expect the subway and other transportation methods to be very congested. According to the London 2012 Organizing Committee, they are aiming for a “public transport” Games, meaning there will be no car parking at or around Olympic venues, pushing even more people into using public transportation. Keep in mind that many of the Games’ events will actually take place outside of London and be spread across the UK, including the cities of Cardiff and Glasgow. So travel throughout the UK will be affected as well.
Besides the crowds that you can expect if you fly through Europe during the Olympics, you can also expect to pay more for airfare, especially if you wait much longer to make your airline reservations. We would expect limited inventory for discounted missionary tickets.
The bottom line is if you typically fly through Europe for your short term mission trips, you may want to consider scheduling your trips to avoid the dates around London 2012. If you do need to travel during that time, ask your Ministry Travel consultant about missionary flight options that avoid London. Also, you should make your flight reservations just as soon as possible, knowing that the longer you wait the more you can expect to pay.
We do have clients that take ministry teams to serve at the Olympics. If that is you, our advice is to recruit your teams right away and book your travel just as quickly as possible. Remember that with many of our special airline missionary contracts you can reserve space now and not have to pay anything until 45 days prior to departure. This is a definite advantage to help you save money during next summer’s busy travel time.
Tags: avoid travel emergencies, christian missions trip, flights for missionaries, ministry travel, missionary airfares